Hide the Pickle & Other Musings

Let me explain, I was shopping at this lovely store called the Christmas Barn. It is run by the Wilton Historical Society and it is literally an old barn that has been transformed into a shop. The wide plank floors, narrow doorways, twinkling christmas lights and creaks & squeaks as you wander from room to room set a beautiful stage for the Historical Society to show their wares. As I was waiting in line at the checkout counter I spied a display of ornaments in the shape of pickles. A little handmade sign read ‘Hide the Pickle’. “What is hide the pickle? I asked.” The shop girl told me it is a german tradition that the first child who finds the pickle in the tree on christmas day will receive and extra present from Santa or have good luck in the coming year.

I have since discovered, after a little online research, that the tradition is probably not German but American and dates from the late 19th century. In any case we are adopting this tradition as our own.

Luna invaded the box I was using to put away photographs I had cleared off the mantle for the holiday display. Cats love boxes, they are quite literally cat traps. 🙂

Luna is looking a little plump! It might be time for her to go on a kitty cat diet.

We had a beautiful moon pre-christmas eve. The snow was clinging to the bare branches of the large sugar elm in our front yard and I managed a quick picture as I stood gazing in the quiet of the evening.

My two youngest were inside decorating the tree and hanging stockings.

Lovely family moments and a new tradition. It does not get much better than this.